| 摘要 |
A method and apparatus for scheduling the transmission of cells onto an network, or other packet switching network, is disclosed. The central feature of the scheduling mechanism is a multi-functional timing ring which accommodates both preallocated static scheduling for use with CBR and real-time VBR virtual circuits, and dynamic scheduling for use with ABR, UBR, and non-real time VBR virtual circuits. The timing ring, in which cell transmissions are defined as actions, is processed sequentially in a burst fashion. Static actions are always performed at their allocated time intervals, so fixed transmission intervals can be guaranteed for CBR and real-time VBR traffic. Dynamic actions are moved from the timing ring to a latent queue, which permits dynamic actions to be performed during their scheduled time slot or during the first available time slot thereafter. This mechanism permits ABR and non-real-time VBR traffic contracts to be maintained.
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